OBITUARY -- Paul Mariah

A memorial will be held next month for Paul Mariah, a pioneer of the gay literary scene in San Francisco during the 1960s and 1970s. Mr. Mariah died of pneumonia January 12. He was 58.

Mr. Mariah was born in Whittington, Ill. but long resided in the Bay Area. He had served time in prison before coming to San Francisco. In a 1977 newspaper article, his prison experiences were cited as crucial to his personal and literary development.

He started Manroot Books and a literary magazine with the same title in 1969. A dozen issues of the magazine appeared, along with 30 monographs. His enterprise published many leading writers of the time, including notable editions of such major poets as Jack Spicer, James Broughton, Robert Peters, and Thom Gunn.